Illegitimate
by Sweetgrl8403
Summary: Erik died and Christine had his child after she married Raoul according to the Kay novel. Charles would like to meet Erik after Christine's death, but Erik is dead isn't he? Based ONLY on the Kay novel.
1. He's Not Dead

**Summary: At the end of Kay's novel it is understood that Erik died and Christine had his child after marrying Raoul. Charles would like to have met Erik without knowing who he was. But that's impossible, because Erik is dead. Or is he? **

Chapter 1-He's Not Dead

Christine carried Ayesha out into the drawing room where Raoul and Nadir waited.

"He's dead. There is nothing left." She said peacefully stroking the Persian cat in her arms. Raoul rose and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Monsieur, take her home. I will finish the rest here." Nadir said as Raoul bowed his head to the Persian and led Christine out of that house on the lake. Nadir watched as the couple left that house until they were out of sight across that lake until he proceeded back into the house to take care of Erik's dead body. He walked past the drawing room and into the bedroom where Erik lay. Nadir walked over to the still body that lay on the bed with its eyes closed and felt Erik's chest. He gasped as he felt a strong heartbeat beneath that fully clothed strong chest.

"Erik? You're alive?" Nadir gasped once more. Erik stirred a little underneath the blankets and his eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Nadir, I won't die. I thought I was, I really did, but I just won't. I acted as if I was dead in order for Christine to go with him. I told her to take the cat and marry that strong man, Raoul." Erik slowly whispered in pain. Nadir lit a nearby candle and said,

"Come on Erik, let me take you home."

"I am home and hopefully my body will die soon." Erik whispered holding onto his chest as if he had some wonderful possession in his hand.

"Erik, you've destroyed this place and clearly you're not going to die after all you have been living with this terrible poisonous illness since you were merely 23 years old. You are now 50 and you know it is not your time yet. I don't understand it, after the poison, opium and morphine you're still living strong." Nadir said seriously. Erik laughed in his classical laugh that would make anyone smile if they could hear it, but this time it was quiet and weak.

"Oh Nadir, I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm living strong. I've never lived strong, a depressed mess of a man who wishes to die who won't die. I guess I just lack inner strength that no one has. Do you think Allah or God has granted me one good trait or did I get that good trait from the devil himself?"

"Erik? Is your life fulfilled now that you are ready to die?" Nadir asked. Erik was quiet for a moment and lay his head back onto the pillows looking up at the ceiling.

"It is now." He whispered and began to cry. 

"Oh Nadir, she gave me the best gift ever. Last night despite how sick I was, she stayed with me and gave me her undying love. She made love with me and told me that she would stay with me until death. Oh, it was so beautiful. But I knew that she loved me, but she loved that boy too and deserved to be his bride. I can't say that I regret stealing that childish innocence from her, but that's why she thinks I'm dead for it's the only way she would leave and be happy."

9 Months Later

It was late on a Saturday evening and Erik sat up in the main room of Nadir's flat waiting in his pajamas for the elder Persian to return from the opera. Erik had no desire to ever step foot in that house again, but always loved when Nadir attended the opera so he could hear about what the story line was about and how lovely the music was.

The front door of the flat clicked and opened and Nadir was greeted by one soft candle and his friend laying on the couch waiting. Nadir smiled to himself and hung up his cloak before lighting another candle and sitting down in a chair opposite of Erik.

"Well? Tell me all about it." Erik demanded.

"Before I start, I have some news I found out about tonight that you might find important to you."

"You know I don't care about the present. It's the past and future that fascinate me, so any present news of yours probably is no concern of mine."

"Ah, my friend, that's where you are wrong." Nadir said.

"Try me." Erik said in a threatening tone.

"Well, it turns out Christine de Chagny had a child." Nadir said.

"She escaped to England with Raoul, how would you know about her current conditions?" Erik questioned.

"Oh, I have my sources and trust me my friend this is a very reliable source." Erik shrugged and said,

"You know that I have been trying to forget her so she can move on with her life happily thinking that I am dead. Not only that, it is perfectly natural for her to have a child, after all she's a newlywed and when you're just married it's all about what happens in the bedroom."

"Well, the reason I am telling you this is have you the faintest thought that it might be yours?" Nadir asked. Erik's eyes grew wide and his heart pounded heavily in his chest until he felt pressure. He pushed on his chest as if that would make the pain go away and then gave a fake laugh.

"I doubt that Daroga, and even if it was, it will never be mine." Erik said looking faraway and then whispered,

"That child, if it were mine, would be better off knowing that I never existed."


	2. Promise of a New Life

Chapter 2- Promise of a New Life

16 years later, 1897 at the Paris Opera House

Nadir glanced around the crowded auditorium. He has had season tickets for 17 years now and seemed never to grow tired of going to the opera alone. He was an old man now, 76 and barely recognizable. He applauded and stood with the rest of the audience as he always did at the end of the performance and the house lights brightened. But something was different about this night. Nadir's eyes always seemed to rest on box five at every performance. It was always filled with someone different and he always chuckled to himself for always thinking about the fateful nights when Erik used to sit up there looking down upon his palace. But tonight as his eyes wandered he saw a man who looked about 45 who was very recognizable with a young man who seemed to resemble someone he knew closely.

The two began making their way out the Garnier while Charles kept chatting on about what a wonderfully built building it was when they were stopped on the street getting waiting for their carriage to pull up. Nadir rushed up to them and bowed down,

"Monsieur le Vicomte, I am so happy to see you. It has been a long time." Raoul studied Nadir for a moment and then recognized him and held out his hand.

"It has been a long time. May I present my son, Charles. Charles, this was a friend of a friend of your mother's. That Erik I was telling you about." Charles was smiling at Nadir and said,

"We were just talking about him. Father was telling me what a great architect he was and how he designed parts of this building. I sure would have liked to meet him. It's a shame Mother never mentioned him before she died, I would have liked to know more about him." Nadir smiled at the young boy. If only Erik knew he had such a young admirer! Raoul urged Charles to hold the carriage while he spoke to Nadir for a few more moments.

"I must say, Monsieur my sympathies for your recently passing wife. But what a wonderful son you have, has many features of his mother."

"Actually, his features don't resemble any of ours." Raoul said looking back at Charles. Nadir remained silent waiting for this day to come.

"If only his real father could have known him and knew how much he was just like him. He's so smart, into everything. He's a musician known as one of the best concert pianists in England. I just always feel the need to talk to Erik and tell him about his wonderful son. If only he knew." Raoul said sadly looking back at Charles who was petting the stray dog that they had run over with their carriage on the way to the Opera House. Nadir's face was pale beneath his olive skin and it was in a state of shock. Raoul noticed the look and grabbed Nadir by the arm.

"Sir, are you all right?" Raoul asked in concern.

"Monsieur, please forgive me for never telling you this before, but Erik's alive." Nadir stammered out. Raoul grabbed him even harder and said,

"What?" so loud that even Charles came to Raoul's aid grabbing onto his arm.

"Is everything all right here, Dad?"

"Fine Charles, go back to the carriage." Raoul ordered and pulled Nadir closer to him when Charles turned his back on the two.

"What do you mean he's still alive? He died. Christine watched and I was there." Nadir shook his head.

"No Monsieur, he didn't. He's alive and at my apartment now." Nadir insisted. Raoul began to cry and said between tears,

"He really did let her go while he lived on. Does he know about her and us?" Raoul questioned. Nadir nodded.

"He knows, he suspected that Charles was his, but knew to leave well enough alone for both of your happiness." Raoul cried more and said,

"He wasn't the man I thought him to be. I just want to talk to him; I always have since Charles was born. I would silently talk to him in my head hoping that his dead soul would hear me. Please take us to him."

Raoul led Nadir to his carriage and the two climbed in with Charles who questioned what was going on.

"Charles, this man I was telling you about, Erik, well it turns out he is alive. You said you would have liked to have met him, so I am granting you your wish." Raoul said quietly staring out the window at the fully lit Parisian streets.

The carriage turned onto the Rue de Rivoli and stopped in front of a tall, old apartment house. Nadir slowly climbed out and said to Raoul,

"Wait here while I prepare him." Raoul nodded and watched as Nadir disappeared into the building and a light appeared in a second floor window.

"Father, I thought you said he was dead?" Charles said in a confused tone.

"I thought he was until that man told me that he wasn't. I was told that he died 17 years ago, but apparently that is not the case. I would really like to see him again anyways and since we are to go back home tomorrow, there really is no other time. Plus he wouldn't be in bed; he always was a night owl according to your mother." Charles smiled to himself while burying himself into the stray dog's fur while he anxiously waited.

Nadir walked through the flat and straight into Erik's bedroom without even knocking. Erik was sitting up in bed reading when Nadir walked in.

"Don't you have the decency to knock? This is a rather abrupt intrusion." Erik said annoyed.

"I don't care. Someone's here to see you. Raoul and his son, Christine's son. You need to get dressed now." Nadir ordered. Erik scoffed smiling faintly at Nadir.

"Why can't they see me like I am? An ugly old man in pajamas?"

"Erik this isn't the time for your sarcastic remarks, just do what I say and quickly for I am bringing them in now." Nadir ordered and left the room closing the door behind him. Erik sat still for a moment thinking about what he was going to do. He was still living with Nadir after all these years and maybe if he wasn't he wouldn't have to deal with such a dreadful reunion. Why couldn't the past just leave him alone? He waited until he heard that boy's voice followed by another voice along with Nadir's before he rose out of bed and began putting on his famous black. All of his clothes were still made of the finest materials and still the same color, black.

Raoul sat on the couch nervously wiping his sweaty hands on his trousers waiting impatiently while Charles sat beside him very content and excited. Nadir made some tea and served to the two gentlemen who sat in his main patiently waiting for the masked phantom.

Erik was as nervous as Raoul as he fastened his mask in place and smoothed his grayish black hair down before leaving the comfort of his bedroom. He walked into the main room allowing his eyes to adjust to the bright light that filled the room. He studied the Vicomte who had aged tremendously before making his entrance by clearing his voice. Raoul and Charles both looked up at him and stood up. Erik studied his son, how wonderful he looked, so handsome not at all like his father except his dark hair, eyes and complexion.

"Monsieur Erik." Raoul said walking over to Erik and extending his hand. Erik studied it for a minute and coolly returned the gesture.

"Monsieur le Vicomte." Erik said shaking his hand.

"May I present Charles." Raoul said walking over and holding Charles by the shoulders.

"I am a great admirer of yours sir." Charles said walking over to Erik and shaking his hand. Erik returned the handshake and questioned,

"How so?"

"Well, I think the Opera Garnier is beautiful and I have heard a few tales on your magic, music and architecture. I must say that I am into music and architecture myself."

"That's something I used to do young man, but don't practice anymore."

"That's such a shame." Charles said sadly.

"Yes, well, all things have to come to an end sometime." Erik said studying the boy intently sending a shiver down Charles's spine.

"Well, I don't know where I got my fascinations. Neither my mother nor father is into such things, though Mother was a singer once in that opera house, but I presume you already knew that." Charles said giving a slight chuckle.

"Yes, yes and speaking of her, I am sorry to hear of her death." Erik said more softly. Charles looked down at his hands and back up at Erik who was staring at Raoul. Raoul suddenly broke the silence,

"Charles, why don't you check on that dog out in our carriage and make sure she's all right in the cold." Charles rose out of the couch next to Raoul and left the apartment.

"Erik, so many times I have wanted to tell you, but I thought you were dead." Raoul said trying to explain himself for the secret of Charles birth. But Erik held up his left hand and said,

"I know and I'm not upset. I knew about him all along and I wanted you to raise him for look at the wonderful young man he has turned out to be. But I want you to know that not a single day went by that I didn't think about him." Raoul put his face in his hands and then looked up at Erik again,

"He's nothing like Christine or me, he's exactly like you. I want to tell him the truth or I shall go through the rest of my life living in incomplete agony."

"Then tell him, but just know that I am not going to be the one responsible for changing his entire life."

"I just don't want to lose him if I tell him." Raoul said sadly.

"You won't. He may not be your son biologically, but I have missed out on the most important years of his life and if I would have raised him, he would have been doomed for life. But he made him into the person he is, something that I had no part of, and so you are his father just as much as I."

"You mean to tell me that we finally reconciled?" Raoul asked.

"We were reconciled the day I saw how much Christine loved you." Erik said. Raoul rose from the couch and stood in front of Erik.

"I will write to you after I tell Charles the truth. Then he can be sent to you if that's what you want or you can come to us. Either way, please be a part of his life after I tell him the truth." Raoul pleaded. Erik stared up at the man much younger than him looking down at him with the most serious look on his face.

"I promise." Erik said. Raoul once again held out his hand and Erik shook it again. Raoul allowed his hand to remain in the cool skeletal grip until Erik decided when to break the bond. Once he did, Raoul walked over to Nadir and shook his hand.

"Thank you Monsieur and don't forget your promise Erik." Raoul said walking out the door.

"I won't." Erik said silently.


	3. Bonding

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay between updates, you have probably heard that there was recently a rollercoaster accident in Cincinnati at King's Island, well just my luck my sister and I were among the injured on that ride so during recovery I have been thinking about updates on my stories and I finally am to the point where I can sit at my computer for a little while and write, so once again I apologize and I will try to be more prompt on my updates. Thanks!**

Chapter 3-Bonding

Erik paced up and down the hall of his new apartment, today was the day, tonight was the night that Charles would be here. He would share tonight and the rest of his nights with his son, the only remaining thing left of his beloved Christine. Not a day went by that he didn't think of her and now he had a part of her forever. But he was still as nervous as ever, constantly wiping the sweat of his hands on to his black trousers.

Charles's carriage entered the city limits of Paris at the beginning of sunset. He nervously looked out the window to see the tops of the buildings against the orange summer sky. He opened the letter he began writing on the train to Raoul and jotted down a few more lines before becoming antsy again and stuffing it back into his pocket. He finally relaxed again and thought about the last time he was Raoul, 5 days ago…

Charles stared at his father as he stood in the doorway of his mansion. Raoul had this sad look on his face as he stared at Charles, as if he had betrayed the boy in some way. Charles took the news quite well, almost as if he was expecting it, but Charles was never one to show his true colors.

Charles threw his last suitcase in the back of the carriage and looked back up at Raoul who remained standing in the doorway. The driver of the carriage closed the lid to the back of the carriage and walked over to the door opening it for Charles to get in.

"Well I'm off!" Charles said sarcastically loud. Raoul closed his eyes at the sound of Charles voice and came down off the porch over to where Charles stood and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Charles, I want you to know that even though you are his son you will still always be _my_ son. I am not giving you up or cutting you out of my life, it's just that he was so dear to your mother and I know that if she knew he was alive you would have never known me." Tears welled up in Charles's eyes and he tried to keep them from falling from his eyes.

"Thanks Dad, I needed to hear that." Raoul smiled a tiny smile and said,

"Good, now after you leave Erik's you will go back for your last year at boarding school and I will see you for Christmas." Charles nodded his head sadly and began climbing in the back of the carriage.

An hour later the carriage stopped in front of an apartment building three stories high on Rue Cambon. Charles stepped out of the carriage as soon as the driver opened the door and looked ahead in the northeastern distance. Even though it was just about dark, over the tops of the buildings he could see the green dome of the opera house lit up. He smiled to himself at the memory of his mother and turned back toward the apartment building. He reached into his traveling bag and pulled out Erik's address. The writing on the paper matched the address inscribed on the building. Charles turned around to see the driver with his luggage and the two of them made their way into the apartment house.

Their eyes adjusted to the dim light of the gaslights in the hallway and Charles glanced down at his piece of paper that read apartment 302. He looked at the apartment next to him that was 104 and began walking up the stairs to the third floor.

Erik stood in his little laboratory off of his kitchen tinkering with some of the things he had created when he heard a knock on the door. His stomach was instantly with butterflies again, the same way it had felt when he woke up that morning. He once again wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers and walked through the main room to the front door. He gave his apartment one last look making sure it looked decent and opened the door.

Charles stood face to face with Erik almost his same height and both sets of their black eyes stared at one another. Erik broke the silence and said,

"Hello Charles, why don't you come in?" Charles walked past Erik into the main room which was lit almost as if it were daytime. Erik spoke to the driver and walked him down the hall to a bedroom on the right where he could drop off Charles's bags. In the meantime, Charles sat on the black leather sofa and looked around at the rich, dark décor throughout the apartment. Erik and the driver appeared once more and Erik led him to the door where he paid his fare and gave him a generous tip. The driver tipped his hat at Erik and Erik closed the door.

Charles looked up at the sound of the door clicking shut to see Erik standing at the door and looking at him. At Charles's look, Erik ran his hand through his hair and walked toward the couch,

"Would you like a drink?" Charles nodded and watched Erik walk toward the kitchen. Charles got up and followed him sitting down at the table and watching Erik work his way around getting out two glasses. He then bent down opening a cabinet that revealed about twenty bottles of wine. He studied them for a moment and then selected a dusty bottle. Setting the bottle and two glasses on the table in front of Charles, he said,

"This is my oldest and best bottle and I have been saving it for a special occasion." Charles smiled faintly and watched as he popped off the top and poured the red wine into both glasses. Charles took his glass and sipped on it properly. Erik sat down across from him and smiled,

"I can see that your father brought you up properly." Charles felt uncomfortable about his real father talking about Raoul that way and began shifting the glass nervously between both of his hands. Erik took a small sip and gracefully placed the glass back down on the table.

"So Charles the last time we met you mentioned that you were into architecture. Would you like to see some of the old blueprints of mine? I have some of the Garnier." Charles's face lit up,

"Absolutely." Erik stood up from the table and gestured for Charles to follow him. In another room Erik had a little laboratory set up where he still worked on drawings and music. _Don Juan Triumphant_ was locked up for the second time in a glass cabinet with other scores. Erik went over to a box and pulled out a bunch of huge papers and shuffled through them. When he found the one he was looking for he pulled it out and brought it over to Charles who was sitting in a chair.

"Remember that underground house your father told you about?" Charles nodded and once again felt strange for his father to refer to Raoul that way, but he took the drawings in his hand and looked at them. He saw the room where Erik slept and how there was a plan for a pipe organ on the wall. He then looked a little more and saw the guest bedroom. His eyes lit up and he looked at Erik who was sitting beside him looking at the plans too.

"Is this the room where my mother slept?" Erik nodded.

"Mm hmm." Charles ran his finger over top of the room imagining what it looked like in that room and looked at the bathroom off of that room. He imagined his mother standing in that bathroom looking at her perfect features in the mirror just like she used to do when he was a little boy. He closed his eyes and remembered Christine standing in her beautiful bathroom in her silk white robe studying her features just as she got out of the great marble bathtub. He could remember the smell of her perfume as she put it on in that bathroom. It always smelled of her perfume.

Erik watched his son and asked,

"Thinking of your mother?"

"It's hard not to, but I feel like now that I met you I am learning a lot more secrets about her and I thought I knew everything about her. There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss her."

"Same with me." Erik said quietly.

"You and my mother must have really loved each other very much." Erik let out a loud sigh beneath his mask and looked at Charles.

"Yes, I could say we did. I never thought your mother loved me, until you were conceived. Then I knew how much she loved me. But I knew that she would be better off with your father, that's why I faked my death, to let her go."

"Let her go? Did you make her stay with you or something?" Charles asked confused by that last statement. Erik felt stupid by that question. He always regretted making Christine stay with him and now he had to explain to his son how he was born.

"I thought you might have known already. Yes, I was very selfish. I wanted your mother to stay with me for always and for awhile she wanted to too. But I became possessive and wouldn't let her go for awhile. I played with her emotions making her think that I loved her and then one minute later she would think that I hated her. I kept her under a spell, until your father came along. She was in love with me, but she was in love with your father too. I came to a hard realization that she belonged with him, after all I was not young and I am still not young. I really thought that I was going to die that year and that's why I had to make her leave."

Charles finished his glass of wine while listening to Erik's explanation. At first he thought that he hadn't been born out of love, but now he was glad to know that he was, for love was a very important thing to Charles. He was always shy of the girls because he wanted to meet just the right person, even though all the girls threw themselves at him because of his good looks.

Charles pulled out his pocket watch and saw that it read 10:30. He stood up and said,

"I, uh, better go to bed. It's been a long day." Erik rose out of his chair too and they both walked out into the hallway. Charles and Erik both walked into the kitchen where Charles placed his glass in the sink and looked at Erik in question.

"Don't worry about it, I'll clean it up. You just go ahead and go to sleep." Erik said walking out of the kitchen and to the bedroom with Charles's luggage in it. Charles followed and stepped into the room. Erik walked over by the bed and lit a lamp on a nightstand next to the bed. Charles looked at the large bed and the Louis-Phillipe wooden chest of drawers.

"You know, this furniture was from my mother, which was the bed I was born in and the same bed that your mother used to sleep in when she stayed with me." Charles smiled at Erik and said,

"Thank you for telling me that." and touched the bed with his right hand. Erik nodded and backed out of the door,

"Goodnight." He said and closed the door softly. Charles put his luggage on his bed and began unpacking. He pulled out a picture of his mother with the necklace that he had made for her that was out ofthe beautiful cat collar. This was the only time she ever wore it, for she claimed it was too expensive and heavy to wear. He stared at it thoughtfully for a moment and ran back out into the hallway. He heard water running in the kitchen and walked quickly toward the sound with his picture in his hand. He saw Erik's back to him hunched over the sink and he stumbled not knowing what to call Erik,

"Um, uh…" Erik didn't hear him but shut off the water and turned around seeing Charles standing there.

"Uh," Charles began again,

"Erik. Just call me Erik." Erik finished for him.

"I was just wondering, I thought you might want to see this." He said handing the framed picture over. Erik took it in his hands and studied it beneath his mask.

"That necklace was something I had made out of Ayesha's collar. Mother was buried with it on. I always wondered the story behind that collar." Erik continued to stare at the photograph and finally turned his head up looking at Charles with a sadness that Charles detected even though his face was concealed.

"I will tell you a lot more about everything tomorrow. It's just been a long night for both of us." He handed the picture back to Charles and left the kitchen retreating to the main room blowing out all the candles. Charles sadly watched him and went back to his room.

After an hour of unpacking his things and washing up, Charles finally laid down in bed. He blew out all the lamps except for one next to the bed and his mother's picture was next to the lamp just like he always kept it at home.

He laid down and stared at it until he finally whispered,

"Good night Mother." And he closed his eyes.


	4. Feelings And An Adventure

Chapter 4-Feelings And An Adventure

Charles woke the next morning late for his liking after a restless sleep of tossing and turning. He sat on the edge of the bed rubbing his eyes and slipping his feet into his slippers. He could hear noise outside his bedroom and quickly tied his silk robe and opened the door. The door to Erik's laboratory was closed but there was noise behind it. Charles listened for a moment but couldn't distinguish what was going on, so he knocked quietly. The noise stopped and Erik's voice called from inside,

"Come in." Charles slowly opened the door and saw Erik sitting at one of the tables adjusting the flow of a pipette and he looked up with glasses on over his mask to see Charles standing there. He quickly grabbed his glasses off his mask and threw them on the table.

"Good morning, did you have a nice, long sleep?" Charles nodded and Erik continued,

"I made some breakfast this morning and I wasn't sure what you liked so I made a variety of things and you can just pick and choose and I'll be in the kitchen in a moment." Erik turned his back on Charles to continue what he was doing and Charles quietly stepped out of the room and walked down the hall toward the kitchen. He looked in to see a few pans sitting on the counters with eggs, sausage, pancakes and bacon. Charles stared at all the food and took a plate that was sitting next to all the pans and dished up one egg, pancake and a piece of bacon. He sat down at the table and began eating.

Erik appeared in the archway and watched as Charles began eating a plain pancake. He began to chuckle and said,

"Oh you don't have to eat that plain, if you would have snooped around a little you would have found some syrup in my cupboard." Erik said crossing the room where he opened the cupboard and pulled out a small bottle. He sat it down on the table and Charles took it pouring some all over his pancake.

Erik took a mug out of one of the cabinets and poured some hot coffee in it from a little pot and then offered some to Charles who refused and then he sat down across from him with his cup while Charles slowly ate the wonderful tasting food.

"So, you slept well?" Erik asked trying to create conversation to relieve some of the tension. Charles nodded at first and then said,

"No, that's a lie. I tossed and turned quite a bit but I guess that's because of what a big day yesterday was or something."

"I don't sleep well either, I never did. Your mother would sleep like a rock, I could go in to her room and scream and she probably wouldn't have noticed." Charles stifled a little laugh and agreed with him.

"Yes, one time when I was younger I was playing with Ayesha and she ran into Mother's room while she was napping and pounced right on her and Mother never noticed and when I was running after her I even bumped into Mother's dresser knocking her favorite perfume on the hard wood and a lot of came out and Father or, uh, _Raoul _just cleaned it up and put a little water in it and she didn't even notice that!" By this time Erik put his hand on Charles' arm and said quietly,

"Charles, you don't need to call your father Raoul around me. I told you, it is perfectly all right to call me Erik and him Father. It's not offensive to me, for I could only imagine what a horrible and confusing time this is for you." Charles just nodded and began eating while Erik took his hand off of his arm and sat up straight sipping out of his cup again. Once it was empty Erik stretched putting his arms behind his head and said,

"Well, what would you like to do today Charles?" Charles stared at his empty plate too afraid to tell him what he really wanted to do, see Erik's underground house. But Erik continued to stare at him.

"I, would, uh…" Charles stammered finally getting the rest of the sentence out, "like to see the underground house." He was too afraid to bring this up for he sensed pain in Erik last night as he looked over the blue prints of that house. Erik continued to stare at him through the mask and then suddenly jumped up knocking his empty mug over on its side spilling the remaining liquid all over the table. But he didn't even notice.

"No, I can't do that right now!" He said loudly stalking out of the room and slamming the door to his laboratory where he stayed for the remainder of the day.

Charles tried to keep himself busy but he was so upset with himself for upsetting Erik. How could he be so stupid as to ask him to show him that house that still haunts him? He wrote out his frustration in his journal and in another letter to Raoul. He wrote about how this entire thing wasn't fair, why did he have to spend a month with someone he didn't even know, even if it was his real father? He admired Erik and hated him at the same time for never even writing his mother or father about his own son. Now with Erik acting like this he resented him even more than before.

Erik remained in his laboratory until about 7 that evening. Charles sat on the front room sofa staring out the window at the people below the building when Erik walked in and said,

"I apologize for my behavior; I just have a real problem dealing with the past." Charles kept his back turned on Erik while Erik continued, this was no excuse for him to yell at his own son when he was the one who needed to be yelled at.

"If you want to see it, I will be more than happy to show it to you tonight, late when there is no one left in the place. I will show you behind the scenes of the opera house and even my underground house." Charles turned back around and said,

"If it puts you in that much misery then I don't want to see it." Erik felt a pang of guilt.

"No, we will go tonight for it's something I must do so I can feel some kind of closure." Erik then knew that he had revealed too much of his feelings and quickly changed the subject.

"Are you hungry? I was just getting ready to make something for dinner." Charles just continued to look at him.

"Is there anything in particular that you would like?" Charles shook his head and watched Erik walk into the kitchen. Charles was excited but nervous about going to see the underground house. Ever since he heard about it he always wondered about it, and then after seeing the plans for it the night before increased his curiosity, for how could someone build a functioning underground house?

That night at 11, Erik put on his cloak and Charles did the same. Putting on his hat, he said,

"The opera has been over for an hour and most everyone should be out of there." Charles just nodded and opened the door eagerly. Once they were outside, Charles gasped as there was already a carriage waiting for them. Erik gestured for him to get in and they rode all the way up Rue Cambon. Charles stared out the window at all the buildings as he rode by, dark and sleepy. They turned right on Boulevard des Capucines and Charles could see the Opera House ahead on their left, the anticipation was too much for he was way too excited about this adventure. They turned left onto Rue Scribe and got out at the entrance.

Erik paid the driver while Charles rushed up to the entrance. The carriage took off and Erik walked to where Charles was and said,

"We're not going in there. We're going underground, remember?" Charles felt foolish for he let his excitement get away from him to make such a stupid mistake and quickly followed his father's long striding steps around the little entrance way. There was a large gate and large pieces of wood boarding it up. Erik looked stunned, and then turned to Charles,

"This is going to be harder than I thought." Charles smiled in panic. He really wanted to get down there and he really didn't want this adventure to be ruined. Erik pushed on the wood behind the gate but it wouldn't budge. He quickly took off toward the small entrance and said,

"Come on." Over his shoulder. Charles followed quickly as they walked up the steps and Erik pushed on the door. It was locked.

"Do you think we'll be able to get in?" Charles asked in worry.

"Charles, if there's one thing I can do it is breaking in someplace without disturbing anyone. I'm always prepared." He reached into his pocket and took out a little pin and shoved it into the keyhole and the door opened as easily as if Erik just simply turned the handle. He held open the door gesturing for Charles to go in first. Charles walked into the dark entrance and noticed that he was on the side of a giant staircase. He looked to his left and saw the ticket booths and on his right he could see the main entrance. He remembered when he saw the opera months ago standing in this room lit up and crowded with people, but now it looked totally different, dark and quiet with their whispers echoing off the walls.

Erik closed the door quietly behind him and pulled a lantern and matches out of his cloak and lit it. He led him toward the stairs and they walked in silence up the large staircase and down some dark corridors. He stopped in the darkness and Charles crashed right into him not seeing him stop. Erik's body didn't even budge when Charles practically fell to the ground and he noted that they were standing just outside of box five. The same place he and Raoul sat the last time he was there.

"This is where I would always hide while I listened to your mother." Erik said as he stepped through the little doorway and over to where the pillar stood.

"In there?" Charles asked. Erik nodded while he rubbed the outside of the pillar remembering when he built that little hiding place.

"I could hear your mother sing perfectly from up here. I didn't have to be looking; I could visualize everything just by hearing it all in this pillar here." Erik continued to run his hand up and down the pillar looking for the little door that he could get in and out of. But he couldn't find it until he did….and it had been sealed shut. Someone else found his hiding place. He felt it sadly for a moment and then quickly changed his mood,

"Let's go to your mother's old dressing room and we'll go into the cellar from there."

Charles followed his father down the stairs and backstage through some more long corridors until they reached a room at the very end with a name on the door, "Michele Bateau" Erik turned the knob and was not surprised that it was locked. He used the same technique as he did with the other door and finally opened it. Charles bounded into the dark room to see where it was that his mother would secretly meet his father, but Erik scowled at the room. Everything was different. This was not the same room Christine had occupied. All the furniture was changed, but the only thing that did remain was the mirror.

Erik walked right over to it and began feeling the sides until he finally found the secret button was undisturbed. He pushed it and the mirror quickly moved to the side inside of the wall. Charles turned from where he stood surprised at what just happened and saw that Erik was staring into a secret passage. He quickly moved over to where Erik stood and they walked silently down a long corridor. They walked silently down into the darkness with only Erik's lantern lighting the way and it seemed like hours before they reached the lake.

Charles stood at the bank in awe at the underground lake, but he couldn't see anything beyond it. Erik told him to stay where he was while he walked around looking for the boat when he finally spotted it. The last person that had been down here forgot to tie the boat up and it floated out into the lake. Erik walked back to where Charles stood.

"Charles, it looks like the boat that I used to get across this lake is in the middle of the lake. So if you want to get to the house, we're going to have to wade across the lake until we reach the boat."

"If that's what you want to do then that's all right with me." Erik let out a big annoyed sigh. He was 66 years old, not exactly a young man anymore, but he knew how bad Charles wanted to see it, so he began to get into the icy cold lake with Charles following.

"Bloody Christ it's freezing in here!" Erik said almost at a shout. Charles couldn't have agreed more, but they continued on until they reached the boat. Erik blew out the lantern and carefully tossed it into the boat and then tried to heave his body over the side while Charles stood in the water trying to watch Erik in the darkness. Erik finally made it over with the boat almost tipping over and his body landed with a crash into the boat. He laid on his back and sat up looking over the side to see Charles trying to do the same.

"Let me help you, son." Erik said reaching out to grab Charles forearms and they both stopped what they were doing at his words and just stared at one another in the dark. Erik realized what he said and felt like an idiot but brushed it off quickly by grabbing Charles again. Once they were both in the boat, exhausted and breathless, Erik stood up and began rowing toward the opposite shore exclaiming,

"It's been seventeen years since I've been down here and I still know exactly where I am going as if I was here yesterday." Charles didn't say anything as he shivered in his wet clothes in the cold, damp cellar.

They finally reached the bank and Erik felt around the front of the boat for the rope which he would use to tie up the boat, but couldn't find it anywhere. Charles grabbed the lantern off the bottom of the boat and Erik tossed him the matches which he used to light it once again. They both used the light to look around the front of the boat, but they could find no rope. He finally let out another really loud annoyed sigh and jumped out into the shallow water and held onto the front of the boat.

"Get out and we'll pull the boat all the way onto the shore where it will be halfway out of the water." Erik demanded. Charles jumped out of the boat as the shocking cold water hit his feet and ankles. He walked all the way out of the water setting the lantern down far away from the lake and returned to help Erik pull the small boat out of the water.

They both grunted as they pulled the boat out of the water and when half of it was out, Erik stopped and felt so lightheaded he thought he was going to collapse. He turned from Charles and pulled the mask off wiping the sweat from his face and then felt that all too familiar pounding pain in his chest. He tried his hardest to ignore it as it made its way from his chest down to his legs. Charles grabbed the lantern and walked over to where Erik stood hunched over.

"Are you all right?" Charles asked concerned.

"Oh yes, fine. I guess I'm not as young as I used to be that's all." Erik said reaching out and grabbing the lantern.

"I'll be fine. Come on." He said standing up tall and walking over to the entrance of his underground house. He thought he could vaguely see the front door but as they approached closer, the front door lay on the ground at their feet. Erik stopped in his tracks and Charles looked at him in question and then saw the door laying in front of an opening where it should have been. Erik looked very sad in the darkness and said in almost a whimper,

"They got to my house."


	5. Thoughts and Memories

Chapter 5-Thoughts and Memories

Charles didn't know what to say, Erik's words were almost a crying whisper. Charles felt awful for the man. Erik slaved over this underground house building with the help of no one over the course of ten years and everything was in pieces. Charles reached out to touch Erik in some helpful way but as soon as he touched his arm, Erik pulled away and walked right over the door and into the house.

Charles felt horrible for the man, but continued to follow him through the opening and they continued into the house with only Erik's lantern to light the way. "Charles looked around at what he could see, a small sitting room with a large fireplace. The couch was dark leather, but the cushions had been ripped to shreds. Erik just looked around the room with sadness in his eyes and Charles asked,

"What happened?" Erik just shook his head,

"I did some of this myself, but I never did it to this extent."

"Well even if the furniture is ruined this is quite extraordinary, an underground house suitable for anyone to live in is remarkable!" Erik smiled to himself for it was nice to hear someone praising his work, even if it was a wrecked tomb.

"It served its purposes, but now it's just another piece of my past." Erik led Charles from the main room to the back hallway which had his library and bedrooms. Charles looked at the library and at all the shelves that stood empty.

"It seems as if you had many books in here at one time."

"Yes, I was interested in everything. I still am interested in a lot, but not to the extent as I used to be." Charles walked over to a piano that stood in the corner of the room. It looked as if it had been smashed in many places, keys were hanging off of it by their strings and some keys had been missing completely. Charles felt sad looking at the remains of what must have been a beautiful piano. He focused his attention back on the woodworked walls and ran his hands along them.

"I can only imagine what a beautiful room this must have been." He said while Erik looked on not moving from the doorway. He obviously didn't want to look at this anymore. Charles got the message and joined him at the doorway and followed him down to the bedrooms. The first door was Erik's old bedroom. Charles looked in and saw a dismantled pipe organ, pulled completely from the wall where it once stood. There was a black coffin that lay on the floor with the lid all the way across the room from the actual box itself. Black curtains that once lined the white walls were torn from their hinges and also lay in a rumpled heap.

"This was once my bedroom." Erik said without any emotion.

"You actually slept in here? Why it's like being in a funeral parlor." Charles said without thinking.

"Precisely." Erik answered back. Charles asked.

"But why?" Erik breathed out a loud, annoyed sigh

"Oh I don't know, probably because I was an idiot, or a crazed lunatic. Something like that, I don't know what I was thinking when I decided upon that." Charles decided that this was a good time to shut up about it and knew he didn't want to see this room anymore, it only proved what a crazy father he really did have.

"Can I see my mother's room?"

"As you wish." Erik answered walking to the other door. He opened it up to reveal nothing. The room stood empty, obviously because all the furniture was in Erik's apartment. Erik walked over to the closet and pulled open the door to reveal nothing hanging, but looked on the floor to see a large heap of white laying there crumpled up. He picked it up while Charles explored the marble bathroom and tears came to his eyes as he remembered Bernard Jules having it made for him and seeing Christine with it on when he dropped the music from his lap in breathtaking awe at her beautiful form. Charles came out of the bathroom and saw Erik staring at the dress.

"What is that?" He asked looking at the dress Erik held in his hand.

"This was a wedding dress I had made for your mother. She only wore it once and only for a brief moment." Erik said without looking up from the dress.

"Erik?" Charles asked. Erik looked up to see his son.

"Yes?" 

"Can we take the dress with us?" Erik looked sadly back at the dress and whispered quietly,

"Yes, let's do that." Erik handed Charles the lantern and tossed the heavy dress over his shoulder.

"There are really no other rooms down here, I hope you enjoyed what you saw, even though most of it had been destroyed." Erik said sadly leading the way out of the house.

"Oh yes, I am still in awe at how wonderful this is in the depths of the opera. You wouldn't think that an underground house would actually have the feel of a real home, but besides the continuous dark and dampness, it does almost fell like a real home. I must really have a genius father." Charles said from behind him. All of these praises were too much for Erik to handle. He had been praised for his work before, but never from anyone who he actually gave a damn about, he almost wanted to stop dead in his tracks and fall over. But despite his pounding, excited heart, he carried himself on as if the words barely affected him.

"Thank you." He said quietly. As they crossed back into the main room, Charles noticed a small window at the top of a wall. He walked over to it and Erik wanted to kick himself in the rear end for this discovery.

"I guess you do have a window after all, how can I see out of it?" Charles asked thinking it was something it really wasn't. But as he got closer he noticed that there was a small door leading into the same room the window was in. The door had been completely torn down, just like the front door. Charles began to set his foot across the opening when Erik ran all the way over to him dropping the dress and grabbing his arm.

"Don't go in there!" He shouted. Charles was taken aback by this sudden outburst and asked,

"Why? What's in there?" Erik just grabbed his arm harder and pulled him back harder and Charles stumbled trying to keep his balance.

"I'll explain some other time, I would just really be obliged if you didn't go in there and didn't ask about it. I will tell you about it in time." Erik said trying to regain his composure as his adrenaline settled down from the panic he just felt. Charles decided to keep his curiosity to himself, watched Erik pick up the dress and he followed him out of the house, the rest of the trip through the cellar and the opera house was spent in silence besides the occasional warning of a 'watch your step' from Erik.

They decided to walk home for Erik didn't seem in the mood to wait for a cab that probably would take awhile to come across their path at two in the morning. Charles offered to carry the dress for it was easily more than a mile back to Erik's apartment on Rue Cambon, but Erik refused. Carrying the dress and walking such a long way made him feel as if he were young again, instead of an old man at the age of sixty-six.

Erik finally unlocked the door to his flat and they were both relieved to be back. Emotionally and physically tired, Charles said goodnight to Erik and thanked him for their little trip. Erik said nothing other than goodnight and watched Charles disappear into his room. He sat down on the couch in the darkness and fingered the dress. He wasn't prepared for this, everything was moving too fast. Meeting Charles, having Charles stay with him and facing his past. It was all too much. If he didn't die from this ongoing pain in his chest, he would surely die from emotional stress.

He loved Charles, he knew that. But he was never prepared to be a father, the word didn't suit him. He always knew about Charles and always hoped these days would come, but he never really felt prepared for the job, that's why he left his duties in the hands of Raoul without ever saying anything.

He constantly stared at Charles and admired him for his good looks and personality, so different from his own he questioned how he could ever pass on his own terrible genes to such a wonderful being. But then he wondered if he had been blessed without a deformity if he would have been the same way. This was the one question he always questioned himself and always wanted answered. Now Charles knew way too much, he questioned the torture chamber, how would Erik ever explain that?

Charles looked up to Erik in admiration, besides his face Charles wanted to be just like his father. He was a genius and extremely intelligent and that was something Charles really admired in Erik. He was everything Charles could ever hope to be as a man, and Erik was aware of this. Erik loved that too and wanted to make these feelings from Charles last forever, but how could they last when Erik explains to Charles that he made a torture chamber to kill people and he actually put it in his house? How he could he explain to Charles that his beloved Raoul was placed in there and almost died and how Erik kept his mother hostage in that house. How exactly would Charles feel about Erik then?

Erik stood up from the couch and draped the dress over the back of a nearby chair and headed over to the kitchen where he poured himself a glass of brandy. There would be no way he could sleep tonight, his mind was too awake with horrible thoughts and worries.


	6. Erik's Past

Chapter 6-Erik's Past

The next morning, Nadir arrived at Erik's apartment; he hobbled along up the stairs with his cane and stood outside the apartment. Glancing at his pocket watch he saw that it was fairly close to ten and that the two men inside the apartment should be awake and hopefully enjoying one another's company.

Nadir knocked pretty loudly and Erik jumped up from the couch where he fell asleep with Christine's wedding dress in his hands. Rubbing his indented skin from leaving his mask on all night he tried to fathom what was going on until he heard the knock again. He quickly stuffed the ridiculously large dress into the coat closet and answered the door. Quite disheveled and exhausted, Nadir was surprised to see Erik just awake at this hour.

"Good morning my friend, did you have a long night of drinking or something?" Nadir asked in a cheery voice.

"Good heavens no! And good morning to you Nadir." Erik responded fairly annoyed. Nadir pushed past Erik and walked into the main room.

"Where's Charles? " He asked.

"He's still asleep I guess. I make it a rule not to check up on my son constantly, for he is a young man of 16." Erik answered as if he had been parenting the entire time, instead of just becoming one. Nadir chuckled.

"Well you two must have had a busy night, last night to be sleeping so late."

"Actually, I took him to the underground house."

"You did?!" Erik took in a deep breath and sat heavily on the armchair opposite of Nadir.

"Yes I did. He wanted to see it and had been probing me about it ever since he came here, so of course I didn't deny his request, but it was painfully difficult. Since I have been out of that world and living a fairly normal life if you would say, keeping to myself and going about my daily business, it was very difficult going back there. It made me see the actual monster I was, the selfish beast that lived down there all those years ago. Charles knows some, but it made me really ashamed in front of my son for him to slowly figure out the deranged lunatic that is his father."

Nadir sighed and responded,

"Erik, that was in the past. Love makes us do crazy things. You lived in Persia and I remember how hard that life was, for the both of us. Nothing like living a normal life here in France, however you were needed and wanted there. You knew that the Little Sultina surely wanted you. She loved it when you would do the things you did for her and if you ever looked carefully she would sweat when you would enter the room, and her heart would pound at your mysterious mask yet handsome, masculine build doing masculine things over there in their world, for instance the killings and magic. She loved you, and yet when you figured it out, she wanted you killed. She would have loved to have you in her bed every night besides the Shah; however in their world as horrible as it is compared to here, was the first time you were truly accepted. So you brought it here and trying to live out what you knew as normal and accepted."

"I never really thought about it that way before." Erik said.

"Well…and your mother…" Nadir started.

"Oh piss on my mother. She was just another bitch who pretended to be something she wasn't and planned on abandoning me with her lover. And when I left, that was when she felt regret. Piss on her, she was a horrible mother." They both sat in silence for a few moments and Erik finally began to talk again.

"I just feel…ashamed. I don't want my son to know the bad side of me. I want him to think I am good, a good person and never did the things I did." Erik got up from the armchair and walked into the kitchen. Nadir could barely see his back but sat silently as he began brewing some coffee.

Charles stood in the hallway, remaining quiet and thinking of hard of the conversation he had just heard. He had never saw his father's deformity, but assumed it was pretty bad if he had to wear a mask. And when Erik told him that Christine was the only woman who had ever loved him, what about the famous royal in Persia who was in love with him at one time? Persians were not the people someone living in European civilization would want to be dealing with, they loved to torture for their own entertainment and it was hard for Charles to think that at one point in his father's life that was something he was a part of, responsible for. And Erik's mother, his _grandmother_ whom Erik spoke so terribly of, what was she about? Who was Charles? Where did he come from? All these questions he had in his head, yet too afraid to ask. It doesn't exactly seem best to ask these questions to Erik for it would bring back his own inner demons. Charles would have to figure out a way to approach this new information and receive the answers he was looking for.

He decided to make his entrance and pretended to be sleepy as he walked into the main room. Erik came out of the kitchen with a coffee cup in his hand and offered it to Nadir and saw Charles,

"Well good morning, did you sleep well?" Erik said cheerfully. Charles nodded and smiled slightly showing that he was "not quite awake yet" and walked over to the where the coffee was. Erik took his cup and sat back down in the armchair while Charles helped himself to a cup and came into the main room to join the two men.

"Hello Charles." Nadir said politely and Charles gave a polite hello back.

"Erik tells me you went to the opera house last night and saw all of his secrets." Erik shot Nadir an angry look, but Charles lightened up a little and replied.

"Yes he did. My father, er…Erik is quite a genius!" To think that a functioning house existed in that cellar is amazing! When you walk into it, you could easily forget that you are five floors underground, and that you weren't just living in a normal house!"

"Yes, it is quite amazing! When I tracked him down to reunite with him after all those years, it amazed me too. "Nadir replied. Erik was beginning to feel uncomfortable sitting there listening to all the praise going on about him.

"Yes well it was what it was, but those years are gone now." Erik said finishing their conversation.

"Oh come on, don't you at least want to tell me a little bit about yourself?" Charles probed.

"Not really." Erik replied.

"He is your son Erik, he has a right to know about your life." Nadir chimed in.

"You stay out of this, and no my life is not that interesting. Not enough to write a book about or tell you two about." He said clearly feeling his anger rise up in him.

"I don't need to know, I already know. But I think Charles deserves to know, he is your only son Erik." Nadir told him.

"Yeah come on Father." Charles blurted out and then quickly covered his mouth with his left hand. Erik and Nadir both looked at him with astonished looks on their faces.

"I…I'm sorry." Charles mumbled looking down at his own embarrassment. The silence fell heavy in the room as Nadir looked at Erik and Charles stared at his feet.

"Do…do not be sorry Charles." Erik said softening into a gentle father.


	7. Truth

Chapter 7-Truth

Nadir had long gone and now the cold rain poured against the glass window darkening the afternoon sky. Charles lit a candle next to his mother's picture and lay down on the bed keeping his eyes on the picture. Everything was so difficult ever since she died. Why did she have to keep such a huge secret? It made him angry and sad at the same time, yet he didn't blame her for keeping her secret. But what was it that she and Erik had? It was obviously something so powerful that he was conceived in the process.

A small tear had formed in his eye as he felt his stomach tighten with grief. He wished he could feel his mother right now as she held him tight and told him that no matter what happened, it would always turn out the way God had planned. She was always so religious, God had everything planned and would always take care of everything, if one could surrender themselves to God. Did Erik believe in God? Charles wondered, and then concluded that he probably didn't. He felt his small tears finally form into silent sobs that shook his entire body, finally getting louder until they were unstoppable.

Erik sat in his office tinkering with another model of a design that he designed. A model that would never leave the room it sat in. But it kept him busy and preoccupied. Hearing a noise, he looked up over top of his reading glasses and stared around. The air in the room stood still until he heard it again. Carefully taking his glasses off over his mask, he tossed them onto the table and stood up to investigate. Stepping into the hallway, he heard the rain hit the window in the front room, but this particular sound came from the other direction. Making his way down the hall, he heard the sobs coming from Charles's bedroom. Knocking quietly, he waited before he heard a weak, "come in." from the other side.

Charles wiped his eyes and tried to compose himself as Erik slowly opened the door. Charles watched him as he made his way across the small room and sat on a chair in front of the bed.

"I apologize; I didn't mean to disturb you in anything you were doing." Charles said quietly and embarrassed.

"You didn't disturb me. I should be the one apologizing to you." Erik answered back, taking a deep breath and leaning back in the chair that he sat in. Charles looked down and started picking at the skin around his, long slender fingers while Erik continued.

"I have not given you any proper explanation about any of this. Your life as you have known it has been turned upside down and I apologize for being a part of such a dreadful change. I need to stop being so cowardly and tell you anything you want to know, for I have a feeling that I knew a different side of your mother than your father knew, and with the change you are going through and the grief, I am willing to answer any questions that you may have." Charles straightened up a little and responded with,

"I feel like everything I have ever known was always based on a lie. I feel like I don't even know who I am myself." Erik stood up and made his way to the bed where he sat down beside Charles. He put his hand next to Charles's on the bed and Charles noticed that they identically matched. He looked up at the good side of Erik's face to see the expression was joyful but sorrowful at the same time. As if he was trying to tell Charles that indeed he was his father, but was apologetic for being his father.

"Whatever have you done that makes you feel so ashamed?" Charles asked. Erik took a big sigh in and replied,

"The easier question is what I have done that isn't shameful. Charles, for me, being born gave me enough guilt, let alone all the things I had done after being born."

"All due to your face?"

"It all began with that. If I was born as beautiful as you, I would have been married to your mother from the beginning. We wouldn't be sitting here, trying to make up for lost time. My face, had once caused me to act in such erratic behavior, the same face which my mother despised and would lock me in my attic room because of it. She was the one who started my nightmare. I didn't mean to be born this way, but that's what the so-called God had given me."

"Is it that bad?" Charles asked.

"Whatever you define as bad, it's worse than bad." Erik answered plainly. Charles raised his eyebrows at that answer.

"I don't want to upset you, or scare you. That's why I won't show you. It's horrible enough to cause nightmares."

"As curious as I am, I will not push you to show me." He answered his father.

"I just want to know about how my mother and father were together, and when I say father, I mean you." Charles finished. Erik took in another deep breath,

"Your mother, I tricked her. Not in a way that you would think. I hid from her, pretended to be something that her father once told her about as a child. The Angel of Music, that was me. I taught her how to sing and eventually brought her to my underground house when I thought the timing was right. She grew quite attached to me, even though she was only a young girl of 16 at the time. She always would sing for me and I would accompany her. But our relationship was clearly not just a student and teacher relationship, at least not to me. She was in love with Raoul and I was in love with her. I did horrible things, I played mind games with her, threatened her into marrying me, threatened to kill Raoul so I could have her. I was a horrible, horrible person. I still am because of all of that. I just wanted her to feel the love I felt for her and return me her love." Erik paused for a moment, gripping his emotions together as he glanced over at the picture of Christine. He continued on,

"I think she did eventually love me. I knew we would never be, I was too hideous of a beast for such a beauty like her. I realized that in order to spare Raoul's life, she would have thrown her life away and finished out her days with me. I had never known a love like that before, and I never would. I couldn't let her throw her life away like that and I told her to marry him. But I made her promise that she would bring me an invitation to her wedding and put the ring I gave her back on my finger when I died. She did return, the day before her wedding. I thought I was going to die of a broken heart, and she returned back to me, bringing me that invitation as she promised. She stayed with me while my heart suffered. She stayed with me all night and declared her love for me. I thought I was going to die after that, and she left me to marry Raoul. I found out about you when the news made its way around the opera house. Nadir told me, and I have thought about you ever since."

"Why didn't you come for me?" Charles asked after thinking hard about Erik's story.

"Because I knew you would be better off being raised by Raoul. And I knew that your mother would leave him, or get confused if she knew I was alive. Those two deserved to be happy, after the hell that I put them through, they deserved every bit of happiness. Your cat, Aiyesha, she was mine. Your mother took her for me, and the beautiful collar she wore, was from Persia."

"I had that collar fashioned into a necklace for her; she was buried with it on." Charles answered sadly, "She cried for days after that cat died. I never knew why until now. That's why I had that beautiful collar fashioned into a necklace for her, so she would never forget." He grabbed the picture and showed Erik,

"Do you see that necklace? That's the collar." Erik held the picture studying his beloved's features and the necklace. He closed his eyes due to the pain; he was always supposed to die first so he would never have to mourn her again. Opening them he looked back at Charles and thought that he had the best of her that no one, including Raoul even had.

"I'm sorry Charles, I'm sorry for all of this confusion and for changing your life like this. I promise you, I am not who I once was and because of that, it makes me difficult to revisit my past. I am just a lonely old man now." Charles swallowed hard and responded,

"I just want to know as much as I can about you. I feel I deserve that."

"As much as I don't want to go into the past, for you my son, I will." Charles smiled and put his hand next to Erik's once again to see his identical hand.


End file.
